California’s conservative Huntington Beach could get a gay, Democratic congressman

The conservative California community of Huntington Beach, known for banning the Pride flag from city property and fighting the state over pandemic and housing policy, could soon be represented by a gay, Democratic congressman.Robert Garcia, an incumbent two-term Democratic LGBTQ+ congressman, immigrant and Donald Trump critic, is considered the leading contender in Tuesday’s primary race for the US House seat. Thanks to a successful restricting effort that redrew California’s voting maps to favor Democrats, Huntington Beach is now part of Garcia’s congressional district 42.California’s redistricting effort, known as Proposition 50, was overwhelmingly approved by voters in November. Trump set off a wave of new mid-decade redistricting after urging Texas to adopt changes to favor Republicans during the midterm elections. California soon followed, as have a number of other states, reshaping representation across the US.Since 2025 Dave Min, a moderate Democratic, has represented the district that includes Huntington Beach. Conservative officials in the city have expressed frustration about the changes underway.“It’s just California ugly-ass politics, and they are all about their agenda and not about the people. They don’t care about the people of California one bit,” Pat Burns, a Huntington Beach city councilman, told Reuters.The Orange County city of just under 200,000 people has some 56,367 Republican voters, and 41,156 Democrats. Its city council is entirely Republican, a group that refers to itself as the “Maga-nificent Seven”, according to SFGate.The Huntington Beach city council has become significantly more conservative in recent years as the city moved rightward during and after the pandemic. The city frequently clashed with the state over Covid restrictions – thousands of people protested in 2020 after the governor ordered the closure of local beaches.In 2024, voters approved an initiative to ban non-government flags, including the Pride flag, from city property.Meanwhile, the city was been in a years-long battle with the state government over its failure to comply with California housing mandates.Garcia’s positions, including on issues such as immigration and healthcare, are at odds with much of the Maga agenda. Garcia, the former mayor of Long Beach, is the ranking Democrat on the House oversight committee which acts as congressional watchdog over the executive branch. He was the first gay immigrant to be sworn into Congress.Garcia has said he has represented people with whom he does not agree, and told Reuters: “That’s OK. That’s America.”“Huntington Beach may have a conservative city council – but the people I’ve met in their homes and in the neighborhoods want exactly what folks in Long Beach want: good infrastructure, affordable healthcare and taking on corruption in government,” he said in statement over the weekend.“And that’s exactly what we are going to do. I’m looking forward to repping HB.”Reuters contributed to reporting